“Bound in life.” He whispers it against my lips.
“Bound in life.”
His mouth presses to mine. “Bound in death.”
I give him the words back, speak them directly into his mouth through shuddering, sobbing breaths—
And then there isnothing.
The current vanishes. The heaviness, gone. I sag against Eres, my muscles shaking badly. “What—,”
Agony.
It strikes without warning, a thousand lightning strikes shattering against my skin, breaking against my bones as I arch, my head snapping back and breaking the connection with Eres. He grips me tightly, panic lacing his words. “Lyra.Lyra!”
I cannot answer him. I can’t breathe. My ruined hands scrabble at my neck, my chest, trying to claw away the searing flame that races through my body.
Erevan.
Their god has rejected the Binding. Rejectedme.
I can hear Eres shouting, hear shouting from the shore, but it sounds as if they are far away. I sink down beneath the water, rushing into my mouth and down my throat before hands wrap around me once more—
“I have you.” Eres cradles me as I gasp for air, wading through the river. “It’s alright, Lyra. It’s the riftlines.”
Blindly, I shake my head. “It didn’t work—”
“It did.” He pulls me closer still, until I can hear the unsteady sound of his heartbeat thumping. “Listen.”
I don’t know what I’m listening for. But as my own breathing steadies, I hear it.
His heartbeat and mine are… the same. Perfectly synced.
“It worked,” he says again. And his midnight eyes are gleaming. “We are Bound, Lyra.”
Bound.
Eres carries my shaking body from the water, laying me down in the mud on the banks before he collapses to his knees beside me. It’s only then that I realize that he’s trembling too. Instinctively, I reach for him—
His hand wraps around mine. “I feel it.”
I don’t know how to describe it, aside from a…need. A need to be closer, to feel as much of him against me as I can. My teeth chatter, any warmth from his touch fading beneath the shock of the Binding. “What is this?”
“It’ll fade.” He leans over me, his hand still wrapped around mine as he cups my cheek, turning it. “It’s an initial reaction. Strong, but short-lived.”
Footsteps thump heavily behind us. “Can I approach?”
Eres glances down at me. His lips thin, but he nods before looking back to Duskbane. “You’ve been keeping things from me.”
I look between them where I lay sprawled on the ground, but Duskbane says nothing. He turns from Eres to me, holding out athick cloth. “Here. Wrap up in this. I sent the crowd away, now it’s done.”
“I’ll do that.” Eres snatches it from him. “She needs to get warm. Did you get what I asked for?”
I wait for the argument, but Duskbane only nods. To my surprise, he turns and walks away.
“The Binding is in place now,” Eres murmurs, but his eyes follow Duskbane. “He’s still insistent that you sleep in the prison for the time being, but since you can’t hurt me without killing yourself, he’ll be less argumentative about it. And he knows that the aftermath of the ceremony is… difficult, for both of us. He’s respecting that.”
I can’t imagine Kaelen Duskbane respecting much of anything. The crowd has dispersed when Eres stands. He scoops me up despite my weak protestations. “Your body has been through a lot in the last few days. I’m carrying you.”
